IOC’s online education service helps retiring athletes transition into new careers
For many athletes, the closing of the Olympic Games Rio 2016 also symbolised their retirement from the sports arena or the pool. To help elite athletes tackle the ‘what’s next’ question, the IOC has launched an exclusive course - ‘Athlete Career Transition - Preparing for Future Success’ - on its Athlete Learning Gateway.
IOC Athlete Career Programme, this particular course features exclusive insights from Olympians and industry experts and offers advice on networking, time management, CV preparation and interview techniques.
The interactive platform currently has 13,000 registered users from 194 countries. It provides courses on a wide range of topics and aims at helping athletes boost their performances and shape their future careers. A new ‘Community’ area also gives athletes the opportunity to interact with each other by sharing experiences, questions and insights.
“I love the different points of view on offer in the ALG [Athlete Learning Gateway] Community and the fact that no one is wrong and that there is good explanation if you didn’t understand something,” says four-time Olympian Kurt Couto.
It is a really dynamic space where experts and athletes themselves can share their experiences and their knowledge.
Many Olympians, such as Michael Johnson, Kirsty Coventry, Lawrence Ndlovu and Angela Ruggiero as well as coaches, sports institutes, sports leaders and leading academics, have contributed unique content for this platform.
“It is a really dynamic space where experts and athletes themselves can share their experiences and their knowledge,” comments Dr Amira Najah, an academic contributor to the platform. “It is an innovative way to help interested athletes in learning and appropriating knowledge and tools to enhance their performance and future careers.”
Get an overview of all 20 courses available on the IOC Athlete Learning Gateway here.
Strengthening support to athletes on and off the field of play is a key topic within Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement, and the Athlete Learning Gateway was one of the first tangible projects to come out this strategic roadmap.
To learn more about the IOC Athlete Learning Gateway, visit: onlinecourse.olympic.org